Exemplary balloon holder technology is provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,895,545, 5,944,576, 6,575,806, and US2012/0184175. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,895,545 and 5,944,576 patents each teach a stick portion having a conical portion at one end thereof, the stick and conical portion being formed as one integral piece. This has been found to be undesirable when shipping such balloon holders. Particularly, while it is possible to lay a multitude of such balloon holders in a shipping container to ship them to a desired destination, it is often the case that many of the stick portions become warped in light of the spacing necessarily formed between neighboring balloon holders in light of the flaring of the cup portion from the stick portion. The warped sticks-which are typically formed of plastic in order to reduce costs—are not easily reshaped to the desired straight form. Because the straight stick is desired, it is difficult to sell the warped sticks, and this problem must be addressed in the art.
While U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,806 and US2012/0184175 teach separate stick portions and cup portions, with the stick portion and cup portion being selectively engaged to form a balloon holder, the engagement is readily compromised such that the cup can slip off of the stick. This is also undesirable and must be addressed in the art.
There is a need in the art for a balloon holder that can be shipped as separate stick portions and cup portions with those portions being joined in a manner that is not readily disassembled. There is a need in the art for a balloon holder that can be shipped as separate stick portions and cup portions with those portions being joined with tight tolerances so that the assembly is stable, without significant wobbling or other movement between the stick portion and the cup portion. There is a need for a balloon holder with a combination of these properties.